The car crashing into the roasting portion of Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Co. was quite the shock. At the time, the Christmas decorations were up, the holiday merchandise was out, and—luckily, it being Thanksgiving—the shop was empty. (No staff; no coffee drinkers; the roaster was off).
The crash demolished the large plate-glass windows, the furniture, the counter, the large coffee pots, the piano and everything on its way to rest alongside the roaster. What had been here for more than 43 years was gone, in an instant.
After the crash, the wood barricade went up quickly, and the clean-up began. Though the initial cleanup is nearly complete, the plywood will stay up until repairs are completed.
A large commercially produced plastic mural was put over the plywood facade at LGCRC, just prior to the Children’s Christmas/Holidays Parade. Some folks would leave it at that. Not Teri Hope, founder and now-part-owner of LGCRC. That commercial-Christmas-style plastic mural was just a temporary solution.
John Robert Peck, who has been offering drawing classes at LGCRC for many years, agreed to paint a mural here. This work is in process off site.
Peck is creating a mural that is fitting for the facade of this coffee house.The only stipulation Hope put onto Peck, a classically trained artist, is, “The town would not appreciate any nudes.” (Peck is known for his realistic nude drawings, in the classical manner.)
“John (Peck) and I know each other through the Los Gatos artists community going back to more than 25 years ago,” Hope told me in a text. She added “This was around the time when John (Peck) reached out to me to ask if he could use the coffee house after hours for life drawing classes. I said yes, under one condition—that I could take classes too, which I did for many years.”
Hope went on, “I have a secret life-long passion for portrait drawing and John (Peck) was the best instructor I ever had. John (Peck) has an exquisite method of teaching by gently suggesting techniques to improve each student’s work-very subtle.”
“The Three Charities”
The subject for this mural is “The Three Charities,” emphasizing Hope’s ideas of “Stronger Together.” Here’s what Peck shared with Teri about the theme: The Three Charities AKA “The Three Graces” are derived from Greek mythology and have been depicted in various forms by many of the great masters during the French Renaissance (during the 13-16 centuries), he explained.
Peck’s inspiration for Main Street comes from a painting of The Three Charities by Sandro Botticelli called “La Primavera” that was made in the late 1470s. This work is a large panel painting in tempera paint. Botticelli is also well known for his work “The Birth of Venus.”
The Three Charities—Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia (the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome) represent the timeless symbols of Joy, Grace and Good Cheer. Peck, per Teri, feels “It’s befitting the warm spirit of the coffeehouse.”
And I add Teri Hope, whom he sometimes professionally refers to as “St. Teri” has created a place where patrons are welcomed and not bothered. The mural of the “Three Graces” / ”Stronger Together” is meant to enhance the recovery of LGCRC.
The artist
John Robert Peck is a renowned realist painter and instructor based in Los Gatos. He is known for his classical portraiture and figure drawing.
Peck graduated from the Florence Academy of Art, in Florence, Italy. He teaches portrait and figure drawing at Stanford University, the Triton Museum of Art and the Pacific Art League.Peck offered to paint a mural for the LGCRC mural for the price of materials.
Every Tuesday evening he offers a class to selected students, who work with charcoal. Peck’s classes continue to this day—they started back up on Dec. 8, skipping just one week due to the car accident.
